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Principal Petitioner Dorel Amir present in the judicial review hearing of the Election Law on Tuesday (18/9) in the Plenary Courtroom of the Constitutional Court. Photo by Humas MK/Ganie.

Dorel Amir as Petitioner for the judicial review of Law No. 7/2017 on Elections delivered a number of improvements including a change of name, title, population number, and his political party member number. 

"I also added on page 4 on my position in the party in relation to activities in the party. The Petitioner has never been a member of the House of Representatives of the Republic of Indonesia or of a regional legislative council and, in fact, the Petitioner has not personally been involved in drafting, discussing, or ratifying bills although the Golkar Party was institutionally involved in the drafting of bills into law. So, [even though the Petitioner is a member of a party], he was not involved in any bill drafting discussions," Dorel explained to the panel of justices led by Deputy Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court Aswanto on Tuesday afternoon (18/9). 

In addition, the Petitioner added an explanation on the reluctance of political parties to regulate the limits of candidates\\' membership in political parties including the emphasis on the importance of statute/bylaws in political parties. The reason is because political parties are not motivated to generate cadres who are qualified and have political understanding, so that they will truly become representatives of the people. 

"On the contrary, political parties concentrate more on how to get high number of votes instantly from the people to fulfill the parliamentary threshold, among which by giving a red carpet to public figures, even though [they are hastily registered as political party member]," Dorel said regarding petition No. 67/PUU-XVI/2018. 

The Petitioner realized that there were many non-cadre candidates, whether approached by political parties or voluntarily register for political parties, and it is not fully reflective of the failure of political parties in generating potential cadres. The electoral system that is proportional, open, results in a tendency of political parties to recruit legislative candidates personally, which prioritize popularity than party membership. 

"It is almost impossible for political parties to push for change from the open proportional system to a closed one, which prioritizes the platform to party policy that will be clearer," said Dorel. 

The Petitioner had registered as a legislative candidate (bacaleg) of the House of Representatives in the electoral district of West Sumatra II through the Golkar Party. He felt disadvantaged by the enactment of Article 240 paragraph (1) letter n of Law No. 7/2017 regarding the absence of regulations on the time limit of political party membership to become a legislative candidate. 

As an ordinary member of the Golkar Party, the Petitioner cannot immediately arrange the requirements for legislative candidate recruitment in political parties, that regional legislative candidates must be members of the party within a certain time limit. According to Petitioner\\'s knowledge, there is no new membership opening in the Golkar Party at the time of the registration of legislative candidates. 

The Petitioner observed that many legislative candidates were actually not cadres from the parties who registered them. He suspected that these candidates were recruited as legislative candidates because they have something other than qualifications and understanding of politics. Therefore, the Petitioner requested a material review of Article 240 paragraph (1) letter n of the Election Law, which reads, "Candidates for House of Representatives, provincial Legislative Council, and district/municipal Legislative Council are Indonesian citizens and must fulfill the following requirements: n. A member of a political party participating in the general elections." 

The Petitioner argued that before the a quo law was promulgated, the bill on the election of legislative members, the president and vice president, as well as the implementation of elections will contain a norm stipulating that legislative candidates in the 2019 Elections are required to have at least one year membership of a political party so the they are expected to have received political education from their political parties and understand their main duties. (Nano Tresna Arfana/LA/Yuniar Widiastuti)

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